Iowa Training Session

Well, we are leaving the Iowa training session. And what a great session it was. We had 12 shooters and 12 observers.

The first afternoon was in the classroom. We went over the basic toolbox animations, as we always do. We got the usual strange looks about seeing the bird behind the barrel, and the same doubts about “same speed at the end.” But all in all, it went well. All the participants were thirsty for information that really made sense.

We adjourned at about 4:45 and went to Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy rain gear. I forgot to tell you that our flight was diverted to Dayton on Monday and we didn’t get to Chicago until after 8 pm. We rented a car and drove to Des Moines the next morning with no bags, no clothes… nothing. Undaunted, we trudged on and made the noon deadline to begin the training.

Megan did a great job of putting the most candidates together and she added as many volunteers as shooters, which made for some real learning possibilities. We also had three representatives from SSSF there to evaluate what we did and what we have to offer their coaches’ training program, as well as the shooters that participate in their programs.

After the third day and the session on the trap range, the feedback they gave us was positive. They were impressed with our products, how effective they were, and the speed with which shooters became proficient – on crossers at distance! The consistency on long crossers is what we see every day, but to most people it’s incredible. Going the same speed at the end is something that makes shooters lethal on clays or birds.

In playing the dove shots that we did in Argentina a few weeks ago, it dawned on me that the fascination that people have for watching the ShotKam shots comes from the fact that few if any shooters have seen a successful shot with a shotgun. And to be able to view it over and over again really does program the brain to respond more consistently. It finally has a picture. That is real, and man, does that play a huge role in “getting it” with a shotgun.

You could hear the remarks:

“Man, the doves are really gonna get it this year.”
“Can’t wait to shoot doves this way.”
“I’ve never been able to hit any crosser, much less one this far and fast…amazing.”

So, we will be adding more kill shots when the website can handle them. And we will be signing up Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and others when they have time to do the training. With hunting season here, the DNRs have little time to do training.

Marty Eby told the group that next year’s training session would include doing away with the old concepts and implementing the new OSP concepts. And the others said they were going to begin implementation immediately – in fact, this weekend. The feedback loop will begin and will make this program so successful in a short time.

We will be doing a range day in Iowa at IHEA convention this coming year on Tuesday at Brownells range. And we will have two sessions with all members to discuss successes and future evolutions of the Knowledge Vault. More later.

Oh, and we will be doing a Coaching Hour for the DNRs soon.